Masters Tennis Tournament : Edberg Wins in Fine, Well-Mannered Way; Is That All There Is?

NEW YORK — After only the second day of the $500,000 Nabisco Masters tennis tournament, there is a creeping sense of something slightly off center.

What can it be? There has been good tennis--well, one match of it Thursday night, anyway. The top eight players are here, so there is no lack of names , even if the faces don’t float readily to mind. The setting is Madison Square Garden, providing a swell atmosphere and a cantankerous crowd.

Could it be that without American players, there is a certain zest lacking? Could it be that without American players throwing tantrums and complaining, this show of fine deportment and good manners is boring?

Could it be that there really are no exciting rivalries in men’s tennis today, or at least at this tournament? What player here elicits the kind of emotional stake from fans that Connors, McEnroe or Borg would?

Ivan Lendl is the undisputed champion, but thus far in his career he has lacked the kind of charisma that would draw people to him. Boris Becker is likeable, but not the sort of player to create sparks in a tournament.

The Swedes, as a group, are the leading players in the game, but because of cultural reserve have remained anonymous. The Frenchmen are the most colorful and delightful players to watch, but they also lack a clear identity.

The absence of heat generated so far in this tournament is enough to put the sponsors off their feed. But the players are trying, despite it all. They can’t help it if they weren’t born here. They still want to play tennis.

Stefan Edberg wanted to play tennis against Yannick Noah Thursday night, and why not? The four times the two have played this year have brought four wins for the Swede, and all of those wins have come on carpet, the same surface used here.

Those were numbers the fourth-seeded Edberg liked. The newest numbers were 4-6, 6-3, 7-6, the scores of his win over Noah before an estimated crowd of 6,000.

It was the most rousing match of this event and the first that had gone to three sets.

The fifth-seeded Noah matched Edberg’s big serve and excellent volleying with comparable skills.

“I think we play quite similar,” Edberg said. “But I think the key point in all my wins against him has been my returns (of serve).”

The way Noah was serving Thursday night, Edberg had to handle a lot of second serves. Noah got in only 49% of his first serves, but they were so good that he won 75% of them.

Noah got one service break in the first set, in the ninth game, and won the set.

Edberg got the breaks in the second set, two to Noah’s one, and also got the benefit of what Noah saw as close service-line calls. Noah’s displeasure with one particular lineswoman elicited scowls and an occasional Gallic oath from him.

The match heated up considerably in the third set. Noah, who had been launching himself to net-level to smash overheads, kept it up-- up being the operative word. Both players say they raise the level of their game when they play each other.

“I enjoy playing him,” Edberg said. “He’s a very nice player to watch. Fortunately, I beat him.”

But not without a struggle. Even in a match as close as this, Noah was not reluctant to try his between-the-legs trademark shot. It worked, becoming a remarkable winner down the line.

Noah took a bow, and Edberg came across to shake his hand.

It was Edberg’s knees that were shaking soon after that. In the 12th game, Noah had Edberg at match point, after slicing a backhand return winner.

Edberg missed his first serve at match point. With his next serve in play, Edberg blistered a backhand volley cross court, a shot that Noah believes is Edberg’s best. That sent Noah racing off the court to retrieve the ball, which he could not reach.

Edberg held serve and won the tiebreaker despite a shaky first serve.

Edberg has now won two matches in this round-robin tournament, but he’s not sure that guarantees him a place in Sunday’s semifinals. It’s not a guarantee, but he’ll likely make it.

Noah is quite confused about the entire format.

“It’s very different; people will get used to it, but so far I’m not comfortable with it,” he said.

Noah was asked to explain the semifinal format, as he understood it. He couldn’t.

What’s more, Noah didn’t like it, what he had heard of it. He had to ask sportswriters what was happening, which, of course, was the last place to go for such technical information.

“Well, we’re getting close to circus now,” he said. “I don’t know the point of that. I don’t understand. I guess some people do, but I don’t know who they are.”

In other matches, top-seeded Ivan Lendl of Czechoslovakia defeated eighth-seeded Andres Gomez of Ecuador, 6-3, 7-5, and third-seeded Mats Wilander of Sweden beat seventh-seeded Joakim Nystrom of Sweden, 6-7, 6-3, 6-3.